Top 5 headlines, for your 5 minute coffee break...

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Global online ad growth predicted

It has been predicted that in 2009 global internet advertising is set to increase by 9.5%, and then by 12-13% over the next three years.

Further research has predicted that online will be the only ad medium to grow in 2009.

Figures assert that this year will see a 15% rise in paid online search adverts, while the internet display ads will increase by 6% and classified ads by 2%.

After a 10.2% fall in the global ad market this year, there are high hopes for 2010 with an anticipated growth of 0.9% in the ad market.

According to reports, the ad market is expected to grow to 5% by 2012, which will determine the speedy advancement of the internet ad industry.

It has been said that: “It is normal for ad expenditure to exaggerate general economic trends. When the economy shrinks, ad expenditure shrinks faster and by more.”

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Yahoo campaign encourages acts of kindness

Yahoo is encouraging web users to perform random acts of kindness towards Christmas through their social site, You-In.

The You-In campaign directs web users to their site kindness.yahoo.com where they must post their good deeds, then encourage others to join in by adding the phrase 'You In?' at the end of their post.

The campaign is a year end campaign following from their Purple Acts of Kindness program, which aims to encourage users to upload photos of their acts onto Flickr.

To continue spreading their kindness Yahoo intends to take inspiration from other online sites which show how people can donate to charities.

Meg Garlinghouse, senior director of Yahoo for Good, said: “We believe that one small act of kindness can ignite a ripple of generosity and we hope to inspire the Yahoo community to create a wave of goodwill around the world.”

The campaign follows on from Yahoo's multi million pound ad campaign; It's You, which was launched in early October.

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Microsoft suspends Juku service after admitting code theft

Microsoft admits to plagiarism of Chinese MSN microblogging service after a vendor was caught stealing code from Canadian microblogging rival, Plurk.

The software giant has responded by suspending Juku indefinitely, just a month of being launched.

The look and the feel of the site felt the same, as identified by Plurk:

“On closer inspection we found that much of the codebase and data structures... are identical snapshots of our code. That it is Microsoft doing the copying in broad daylight makes it even more incredulous.”

“We were shocked and outraged when we saw with our own eyes the cosmetic similarities Microsoft's new offering had with Plurk....Microsoft China's offering ripped off our service.”

Microsoft has admitted: “The vendor has now acknowledged that a portion of the code they provided was indeed copied.”

The software giant has stated in an apology to Plurk: “We are obviously very disappointed but we assume responsibility for this situation.”

“We are a company that respects intellectual property and it was never our intent to have a site that was not respectful of the work that others in the industry have done.”

“We will be reaching out to them [Plurk] directly to explain what happened and the steps we have taken to resolve the situation.”

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Google launches visual search tool

Google has launched a mobile image recognition service, the Google Goggles service which allows users to use pictures to search the web.

Users can take photos of various items including books, buildings, contact information on business cards and logos and be directed to the relevant results on their mobile.

The image is snapped by the mobile camera, then scanned, which takes a few seconds and the results are displayed.

The visual search service can help users to search quality and relevant results

Vic Gundotra, Vice President of engineering for Google, said: “One day visual search will be as natural as pointing a finger – like a mouse for the real world.”

The visual search engine is still in its early stages but Google's aim for the tool is to generate quality results for any one image.

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Google confirms mobile handset Nexus One test

Google confirms rumours that it is experimenting with a new Android-based mobile device and developing its own mobile handset.

According to reports Google's first phone, the Nexus One, is rumoured to be released in the new year, although it is not official.

Rumours of the Google phone has been circulating for over a year, after images of a touchscreen HTC phone were published online.

Reports found that the Nexus One will be controlled by Google including both its hardware and software.

According to reports, the Nexus One will be unlocked, unlike the iPhone which is controlled by carriers.

Mario Queiroz of Google, has said of the device:

“We recently came up with the concept of a mobile lab, which is a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities, and we shared this device with Google employees across the globe. This means they get to test out a new technology and help improve it.”

The Nexus One is already in use, it is currently being tested by Google employees around the world, as part of their “dogfooding” process.

The Android phone follows the success of their Google's Android Operating System.

SOURCE: IAB, REUTERS, NMA,